Sound planning for B-R girls

Execution often proves more important than having the right game plan, and the Bridgewater-Raynham and Fairhaven girls basketball game proved that to be true Thursday afternoon.

In the opening round of the Sue Rivard Holiday Tournament at Oliver Ames, B-R (3-1) pulled out a 42-38 victory by executing their game plan while the Devils (3-3) were never able to get into theirs.

“This was a great win for us,” said B-R coach Nicole Orlando. “That was a very talented Fairhaven team.”

The Trojans will play Oliver Ames in the final of the tournament on Saturday. Oliver Ames beat Framingham, 62-59, in the other first-round game.

B-R used a balanced attack of outside shots and points in the paint throughout the game. Guard Sam Marotta finished with eight points and Amanda Brown added seven to lead the outside game while forward Rachel Chuckran lead the team with 12 points inside.

“It was kind of a good combination of inside and outside game,” said Orlando. “We're trying to work on more of an inside game, but I thought this time was good inside and out. I thought the guards did well pushing it up, and then we did a good job getting inside.”

In large part due to the tight officiating, the visiting Devils were never able to get into their fast-break offense or their aggressive man-to-man defense.

“I thought the officiating was questionable at best,” said Fairhaven coach David Brogioli. “I'm not an official complainer, but they took us out of our game. We're used to playing much more physical basketball and I didn't think we were allowed to play physical today, so it hurt us.”

Starting seniors Colleen Pepin, Erin Baldwin and Maggie Rossi were in foul trouble early and that had an impact on their team's play.

“Our best players were in foul trouble right from the get-go, so we played a half-court game and that's not our game,” said Brogioli. “We like to run and gun, and it was definitely slowed down today.”

Baldwin and Rossi, who scored 18 and 12 points, respectively, did all they could to jumpstart the offense, but with both in foul trouble the rest of the team combined to score just eight points.

“In the first half, I thought Rossi was playing well, but she picked up her third (foul) and we had to pull her out,” said Brogioli. “I thought she ran the floor well. When she was in I thought we pushed it better.”

The play of the Trojans' bench was a huge factor, as three players combined for 22 of the team's 42 points. After coming off the bench, Chuckran took over in the second quarter, by posting up and drawing fouls to score six straight points to finish the half.

“Rachel Chuckran did a great job coming off the bench to give us that added spark, and so did Laura Callinan, as a guard with defensive pressure,” said Orlando.

Callinan contributed five points, including a big 3-pointer with three minutes to play, and had three steals.

Fairhaven jumped to an 8-0 lead halfway through the first quarter, but that would end up being the largest lead of the game for either team.

After a back-and-forth first half, the Trojans opened the second half ahead by three, at 23-20, but relinquished the lead a minute in when Pepin set up Rossi for a fast-break layup after a Trojan turnover.

After a clutch 3-pointer by Marotta put it ahead, B-R battled back to finish the third quarter with a one-point lead that it would not give up, despite the Devils' comeback in the final minutes.

“I was very pleased with the overall effort of the whole team to come out with a tough win like that, especially at the end to push through when they were making their comeback,” said Orlando.

The Trojans had a big edge in rebounding as the guards and forwards got involved to outrebound Fairhaven, 32-23. Chuckran, Brown and Lauren Kelly each pulled down six boards.

“We focused on the fundamentals — boxing-out, crashing the boards and being more composed,” said Orlando.

Brown also went 5-for-8 from the free throw line, two of which came in the final minutes to seal the win.

“Amanda Brown with the free throws at the end, showed great composure for a sophomore,” said Orlando.

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